Intoxication: Not a Defence for Crime Free Essays.
Intoxication is a defense available to criminal defendants on the basis that, because of the intoxication, the defendant did not understand the nature of his or her actions or know what he or she was doing.
The relationship between intoxication and criminal culpability is complex especially if a mental condition legal defence is being considered. The apparent stimulating effect of alcohol is due solely to the fact that it deadens the higher control centres and progressively the other centres as well, thus weakening or removing the inhibitions that normally keep us within the bounds of civilised.
In summary, the current position on intoxication as a defence in South Africa is as follows: (a) Where the accused was too intoxicated either to have acted voluntarily or to have criminal accountability, he cannot be found guilty of the primary offence charged, but may be found guilty of the violation of section 1 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act.
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Criminal law on intoxication as it exists in South Africa is a valid legal defense that an accused can use against criminal charges based on mental capacity, conduct and particularly, intention.
One of such defenses is the intoxication defense. The intoxication defense is a defense by which a defendant may claim diminished responsibility based on substance intoxication. Where a crime requires a certain mental state (men’s rea) to break the law, those under the influence of an intoxicating substance may be considered to have reduced liability for their actions.
The defence did not want to use the defence of insanity but tried to use the defence of automatism arguing that arteriosclerosis was not a disease of the mind. This was rejected and the court held that which ever medical opinion was accepted, arteriosclerosis was a disease capable of affecting the mind, and was thus a disease of the mind within the M’Naghten rules.